(CNN) — The Tennis Channel has canceled plans to broadcast a tournament in Dubai because an Israeli player was banned.

Shahar Peer, the 45th-ranked women’s player according to the World Tennis Association, qualified to compete in this week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships but was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates.

The cable network had planned to air parts of the tournament this weekend.

“Preventing an otherwise qualified athlete from competing on the basis of anything other than merit has no place in tennis or any other sport, and has the unfortunate result of undermining the credibility of the very nature of competition itself,” the network said.

The announcement comes the same day the Wall Street Journal Europe announced it is dropping its sponsorship of the tournament.Source : CNN